Home chores
by Dancingwiththesocks
Summary: With Merlin not being there Arthur has to do the home chores.


Arthur woke up and groaned knowing the fact that Merlin wasn't going to be there today, which meant that for the first time in his life since he had met Merlin he would have to do the house chores.

While rubbing his eyes Arthur wandered downstairs to find that there was a note from Merlin on the kitchen desk top.

 _Morning Arthur!_  
 _Just to let you know that I will be back from work at four._  
 _To help pass the time away I have a list of chores for you to do._

"Great" Arthur mumbled to himself before continuing to read the note.

 _Right your first job is to empty the bins, I have left a bin bag on the living room table to take the rubbish in._  
 _See you later_  
 _Love Merlin._

After getting dressed Arthur whined about the number of bins he had to empty. Picking up the bin bag the Merlin had left for him, he walked around the house shoving all the rubbish from the bins into the bin bag.

When he had emptied all the bins Arthur looked around to see if there was anywhere he was supposed to put it. He glanced back at the note that Merlin had written to him but there was nothing about where to put the bag.

"I'm not carrying this around all day like an idiot!" Arthur exclaimed.

Suddenly Arthur had a solution to his problem. Since he was upstairs he rushed to his bedroom, he opened the window and held the bag out of the window as all the rubbish tumbled out of the bag onto the grass in the garden. Once he was sure that the bag was empty he threw that out the window to join the rest of the rubbish.

"Thank god that's over" Arthur said calmly.

Making his way back downstairs Arthur suddenly noticed that there was another note but this time he found it hanging on the door.

 _Don't think it's over yet, you've only just begun!  
Your next job is to wash the car as I have taken the bus to go to work today, and don't even think about complaining.  
There is a bucket of soapy water, a sponge and a hose to wash the car with._

Arthur sighed heavily before going out to the front of the house towards the car before reading the last part of Merlin's note.

 _Make sure you wash the windows too._

Arthur stared at the four windows, "What, this will take forever to do!" Arthur shouted.

At that moment Arthur could imagine Merlin saying _the sooner you start, the sooner you will finish._

Brushing a hand through his hair Arthur began to wash the car, wiping the soapy wet sponge all around the car.

After twenty minutes or so washing the car, Arthur's arms began to ache and he hadn't started on the windows.

Arthur huffed out a tired sigh before pulling on the car door therefore causing it to open which gave Arthur another idea.

He opened all four doors and wound down all the windows with a sneaky smile on his face.

"I can't wash the windows if they're not there" Arthur said proudly.

Arthur closed all four doors before rinsing the car off with the hose while dancing, completely forgetting about the car windows which were left open.

"There, I must be done by now" Arthur said before going back inside.

Heading towards the kitchen Arthur was startled to find another note pinned up by two fridge magnets on the fridge door.

 _I know you might be tired, but there is still plenty more to do yet._

 _Your third job is to take the laundry I have left in the basket upstairs to the washing machine._

"My arms are aching; they're going to fall off!" Arthur winged before reading the final part of Merlin's third note.

 _Don't forget to separate the whites from the colours!_

Arthur huffed out a sigh before stomping upstairs to get the laundry basket. When he returned to the washing machine he put in fabric conditioner and the detergent before kneeling down and stuffing all the clothes into the washing machine despite Merlin's instructions on the note.

"Oh who cares what colours they are" Arthur moaned before switching the washing machine on and leaving it to do its job.

Arthur flopped on to the sofa, hoping not to find anymore notes from Merlin. Unfortunately Arthur gazed out the window until he noticed that there was yet again another note from Merlin. All Arthur could do was put his head in his hands before daring to read the note.

 _I thought you may be resting after this, so to help let the hour go by you can make yourself useful by tidying your room as I bet it's even more of a mess than usual._

Taking the note with him Arthur slowly walked upstairs to his room to find that Merlin had not been joking about the state his room was in, but being Arthur he didn't want to admit that Merlin was right.

"I don't see why he keeps nagging me to tidy my room; it will only get messy again so why not save time and leave it the way it is"

He continued to read the next sentence of Merlin's note.

 _And pick up your socks; they're all over the floor!_

"But that's where I keep them!" Arthur complained childishly.

 _I have also left the hoover near you bed, just to make it more interesting for you  
See you soon  
Love Merlin_

"Thanks a lot" Arthur said under his breath before plugging in the hoover.

"I hate picking up socks" Arthur moaned while switching the hoover on.

Arthur dragged the hoover around the floor until he accidentally hoovered up one of his socks; suddenly an idea of how he could save time popped into his head and wouldn't leave him alone.

Arthur got the hoover and wherever he found a sock, he hoovered it up with a grin on his face.

When there were no more socks to hoover up, he switched the hoover off and happily said "finished, and it saved a lot of time"

Arthur came back down the stairs looking exhausted when the front door opened and Merlin walked in.

As soon as he saw Merlin Arthur went up to him and gave him a hug while saying "Merlin, thank god your back!"

"Actually Arthur I have to tell you something" there was a pause, "I never left" Merlin said while smirking.

Arthur's smile turned into a frown, "What?" Arthur snarled.

Merlin laughed "I've been here the whole time, where do you think the notes came from?"

Arthur did not look impressed, "so you mean that I have done all this work to find out that you have been here all along!" Arthur said angrily.

"Yep" Merlin replied with a wide grin on his lips.

Arthur looked as if he was about to kick Merlin, before he had even thought about it Merlin ran off.

Arthur took a deep breath.

"MERLIN!"


End file.
